


point of contact

by makehomesofhumans



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Vague Location
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 09:31:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12838311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makehomesofhumans/pseuds/makehomesofhumans
Summary: Ryan and Shane investigate a busted up, broken down shack, but there's nothing to see. Back at the hotel, they patch up and settle in for a shift in perspective.(update: now with a new and slightly different ending.)





	point of contact

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know how to summarize this weird chunk of mystic surrealism. Basically a classic bed-sharing fic with no spooks. I just need to dump this thing and mess with it later. (beware over used tropes such as 'baby' and 'oh my god' and 'shut up shane').

Ryan placed his palm against the red, peeling paint of the front door, “Do I have to?”

Shane rolled his eyes and aimed his flashlight through the living room window, ominously highlighting a couple spooky shadows, “You really gonna bail this early?”

Ryan huffed and pushed the front door open out of pure spite, unwilling to cave but not quite steady enough to walk all the way in. He immediately started searching the dusty wall for a light switch, and nothing came of it; there likely weren’t any bulbs in the sockets to begin with.

Shane’s ray of light leaked in over his shoulder, illuminating the splintered walls and torn apart carpet. Ryan turned his on too, shining it towards the kitchen and living room just to make sure there wasn't anything lurking around.

The house was small and utterly falling apart. The wood was molded and broken along every wall. Ryan could see chunks of the boards jutting out at jagged angles, as if the house was so heavy that the boards started to bend and splinter out of the foundation. The carpeting wasn’t holding up any better, and every piece of furniture was sunken and grey.

Shane pulled up behind him on his flank, “At least we aren’t sleeping here tonight, might catch a disease.”

As they walked further into the house the boards creaked and groaned beneath them, just adding to Ryan’s anxiety. There were rarely any allegedly haunted houses that were in pristine condition, but this was just disgusting. He would be perfectly content to sink into the stiff, bleached hotel sheets later.

Ryan wandered into the kitchen, noticing all the appliances had been ripped out, “Can’t believe this place hasn’t been torn down yet, especially if people are running around looking for ghosts. Just a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

Shane walked past the kitchen, uninterested, and towards the back rooms, “Didn’t you say something about the upstairs bedroom being a hot spot?”

Ryan looked around the corner to see where Shane was pointing his light. The stairs were almost worse than the walls; most of the boards were just splintered-off half pieces that they couldn’t even walk on if they wanted to.

Ryan sighed and moved away from the kitchen, “Well, if I’d known it’d be like this I wouldn’t have wasted our time. Whatever, maybe we can find something down here.”

Shane followed him past the stairs into the rooms behind, “Some bugs maybe, or another dead animal.”

Ryan ignored him in favor of looking into the small bedroom just a ways down the hall. The lack of furniture throughout the house made it feel much more ominous and lonely, knowing that nothing living had been in the place for years.

There was a small thud upstairs and Ryan threw himself backwards to look up. As he did, Shane threw his palms out to shield his back from the door hanging open behind him, “Hey, hey, watch it-“

There was a long creak, like a floorboard being stepped on, and Ryan moved closer to him. Shane cast his light up the stairs and toward the ceiling despite knowing it wasn’t going to find anything.

Ryan was shaking a bit as his light skid across the upstairs, bouncing between bedroom doors and the dark hallway, “Think there’s something up there?”

Shane looked down at him with a dubious frown, “Take a wild guess. Honestly? I think this house is about to collapse on top of us.”

Ryan was moving his light across the upstairs frantically, “But what if there _is_ something and we don’t get to see it?”

“Ryan, out of all the shitty places we’ve been to, how many times has there actually been anything to catch? I don’t think we should even risk those stairs, dude.”

Ryan didn’t answer because the house groaned instead, prompting him to let out a small shout. Shane was more scared that every board in this building was rotting out of place and they were about to be crushed under the weight of it. Ryan, on the other hand, was clearly not troubled by that specific possibility at all.

Shane could tell Ryan was really itching to go up there, but he wasn’t about to risk that shit, “Hey, lets just bring ‘em down here!”

Ryan’s eyes went wide as his fear of that option kicked in. Shane thought it was a good idea though so he ignored Ryan's wide eyes and yelled up the stairs, “Hey, ghosts! Why don’t you come down here and chat with us.”

Ryan’s light was shaking again as he trained it on the top of the stairs. They stood in silence, waiting for something that wasn’t going to come. There wasn’t a single sound or movement, so Shane tried again, “Alright, you don’t feel like talking, I get it. What if you just come kill me, or something? Ryan said you two were into that sorta thing.”

Ryan groaned next to him, regaining some of his composure in favor of starting something with Shane, “You know, your suicidal tendencies are gonna get us both killed someday.”

Shane looked back at him, “Hey, that’s like- your dream, okay; we go out with a bang in some spooky house, catch all the footage we’d ever need to prove ghosts are real, and they bury us on the property so they can turn it into a tourist attraction and profit off our corpses. Win-win. You'd love that.”

Ryan wheezed and giggled, “You think that’s my dream?”

Ryan’s smile lit up the room, and Shane couldn’t help but return it, “I’d say so, yeah.”

Ryan completely forgot about being scared, because that was Shane’s specific skill and goal, and started moving towards the bedroom behind the stairs again, “Well, I’m not sure if I’d pick this place to die in…”

Shane agreed and barely avoided catching his sleeve on a long, thin nail bending out of the wall. _Who the hell let this place fall apart like this?_ Ryan led them into a small room hidden behind the staircase. It was a white, dusty bedroom holding a single, bare mattress lying on the floor covered in stains. Just as unimpressive as everything else so far.

Shane went over and kicked at it, “Who do ya think uses this? The raccoons?”

Ryan was idly looking around the room, “Ghosts need a place to sleep too, Shane.”

Shane considered that, “Actually I don’t think they do, but alright.”

Shane spotted the closet cracked open over in the corner and immediately grinned, “Hey Ryan, dare ya to sit in that closet for 5 minutes.”

Ryan’s light skipped over to the rotting door, and it creaked open a little bit further just for Ryan’s sake, “Oh my god-“

Shane laughed, “Look, it wants you to go in there! You should listen.”

Ryan stepped closer behind him, not letting his light leave the closet entrance, “I really don’t think I should.”

Shane took a long stride forward and looked inside. His light caught on the broken boards jutting out of the walls, but otherwise he noticed nothing of interest and told Ryan as much, “It’s completely empty, what’s the harm?”

Ryan walked forward and moved in front of him to cast his light over the closet, “Well the door opened on its own so I don’t know!”

Shane snickered as Ryan gingerly inspected the closet, purely due to his curious personality. Shane gently pushed on his lower back, just to ease him in, and Ryan immediately doubled back, “Hey, no, no- don’t, I’ll go in on my own time.”

Shane put his hands up apologetically and motioned Ryan to move forward, which he did. Ryan was slowly making his way inside when a thump sounded against the opposite wall and he threw his body backwards again.

Shane heard something scrape before Ryan hissed and grabbed his upper arm.

“Ryan-“

Another thump sounded against the wall, louder this time, and Ryan yelped and went running out of the bedroom, still holding his arm. Shane quickly followed as Ryan busted out of the front door and walked over to their car, looking down at his shoes and wincing.

In the streetlight, Shane could see blood leaking out between his fingers, “Hey, whoa, are you alright? What happened?”

Shane moved closer as Ryan replied, “I just- I got spooked and when I jumped back my arm caught on something sticking out of the wall.”

“Jesus, let me-“ Shane ran over to the passenger side and rummaged through the glove compartment looking for a first aid kit, but only finding McDonald’s napkins. He figured that was better than nothing.

He went back to Ryan and peeled his fingers away from his arm, Ryan hissed and clenched his teeth as the pressure was removed and the cut bled freely in the cold air.

Ryan looked over at the flimsy brown napkins Shane grabbed, “No first aid kit?”

Shane shook his head as he inspected Ryan’s arm, “Couldn’t find one, anyway.”

“I don’t think you should use napkins, they’ll fall apart and get stuck in there.”

Shane nodded, noticing he couldn’t think of anything to say or do; all he could do was watch Ryan bleed over his fingers.

“I think my hoodie is too big for this, how ‘bout my-“

Ryan ignored him as he took his grey t-shirt off over his good shoulder and wrapped it around his other one, “Let’s just- can we go to the hotel?”

Shane was struck dumb by Ryan’s sudden bare chest two inches from his fingers, and how uncharacteristically calm Ryan was acting, but he shook his head, “What if it’s infected or something?”

“We can get peroxide at CVS by the hotel or something, I’m sure, I just- I wanna get to a sink.”

Shane nodded and peeled his eyes from Ryan’s chest, instead moving to unlock and start the car. Shane took over driving so Ryan wouldn’t aggravate his wound while it was still fresh, and Ryan seemed too wired to handle it anyway.

Ryan thumped his head against the passenger window and shut his eyes as Shane peeled out of the driveway. Shane did his best to keep his eyes on the road instead of on Ryan, only barely going back on his efforts.

~

Shane was standing outside the bathroom door, watching as Ryan ran warm water over his dried, crusted hands, only shaking a little bit. The water turned a light copper red as it drained down the pipe, and Ryan was just staring at it.

“Ryan, are you sure you don’t wanna go to the hospital?”

Ryan blinked and turned to him, nodding slowly before looking back at his arm. Shane was looking too, for different reasons, and he really hated his brain at the moment. Ryan’s left (wounded) arm was facing away from him though, so he couldn’t be blamed for taking advantage of the view.

Without drying his hands, Ryan reached up and unwrapped his shirt from around his arm. He hissed and squinted as the fabric pulled at the immature scabs forming around the laceration. A few drops of water ran down and around his forearm, and Shane tracked them as they dripped from his fingertips.

Ryan spoke up and broke his trance, “It’s just- it’s just a deep scrape. It wasn’t like a nail or anything.”

Shane nodded and tried to feel better about that, but then Ryan was pressing his water-damp shirt against the wound and wincing even harder, and he felt useless. Ryan’s fingers slid across the counter top to find the bottle of peroxide. He began to pour it liberally down his arm, hissing as it bubbled up and stung.

Shane watched as a few stray streams drifted onto Ryan’s torso, skimming across his ribs and flowing down the jut of his hip, and Shane’s neck felt warm. He forced his eyes back to Ryan’s pained expression, to empathize with him instead of just taking advantage of his pain like an asshole.

Ryan palmed at his chest with his t-shirt to soak up the excess peroxide and looked over to make eye contact with Shane as he did so, “Can you see if there’s gauze in the first aid kit they gave us?”

Ryan kept rubbing his stained red-grey shirt across his skin, and Shane could only barely nod before fumbling through the kit sitting on the counter by the sink. He pulled out the gauze and offered it to Ryan, who traded it for his stained shirt.

Shane walked out of the bathroom and tossed the shirt in the bin by the television. He turned back to the bathroom, letting Ryan slowly leak back into his view. Ryan was attempting to wrap the gauze around his arm with one hand, clearly not at all managing, and Shane noticed his fingers shaking.

Shane immediately stepped into his space, “Here, let me...“

Ryan nodded and let Shane take the gauze from him. Shane unraveled what Ryan was attempting to wrap before and started from the beginning. Ryan was watching his fingers as he coiled it around his bicep, tucking it in gently once it reached the end of the roll. Shane looked down and Ryan had goose bumps peppered across his arms since he’d been standing wet and shirtless in the cold bathroom for a while now. Shane had to push away the urge to run his hands over his skin in an attempt to warm them up.

Ryan moved away and thanked him. To distract himself, Shane decided to jump to a separate subject, “What do ya think that thumping was?”

Ryan perked up as he made his way to their overnight bags they’d tossed by the bed, “What, at the house?”

“Yeah, it happened quite a few times, figured you’d be spooked.”

Ryan bent over and dug around in his backpack as Shane settled himself on the edge of the bed, keeping his eyes fixed on the black television screen.

Ryan turned with a new light blue shirt in his hands, “I know! I really wish we’d had the chance to stay longer.”

Shane looked up just as Ryan was pulling his shirt over his head and down over his torso, “I mean- we could go back. Just extend the trip to tomorrow night.”

Ryan yawned and plopped down on the bed next to him, bending over to pull off his socks, “Yeah, maybe. I think we could get some really good stuff if we went back.”

Shane pulled off his jacket to get comfortable, “That, or maybe the guy that was banging around outside will fuck off by tomorrow.”

Ryan stood to get his laptop out of his bag and laughed, full body and bright, “Holy shit you’re kidding. What, was he inside creaking around upstairs too?”

Shane went into the bathroom to take out his contacts as Ryan settled onto his side of the bed. Shane noted, faintly, that Ryan got a room with a single bed again. He decided to skip over that thought, “I don’t know Ryan, that house was really unstable. I can’t believe you were more worried about a ghost than the whole ceiling collapsing and crushing us to death.”

Ryan called from the room, “That place has been rotting like that for years, I doubt our presence was gonna be the final nail in the coffin.”

Shane set his contacts case to the side of the sink and put his glasses on. He walked out of the bathroom to grab his pajamas, running his fingers through his hair as he spoke, “I dunno, that guy outside coulda brought the whole thing down, baby.”

Ryan giggled, “Oh my god.”

Shane smiled and went back into the bathroom to change.

 

Ryan was falling asleep looking at his phone, his head drooping for a while before snapping back up on an endless loop, and Shane just barely caught his shoulder before he fell right over on his arm. Ryan blinked and focused his pupil-blown eyes on Shane, smirking, “Mornin’.”

Shane couldn’t keep the soft smile off his face as he shook his head, “Not even close.”

“Oh…”

Shane took Ryan’s phone out of his hand and set it on the nightstand as Ryan tried to get a grasp on his surroundings. He started to sink back into the pillows as his eyes drifted shut again. Shane pulled off Ryan’s glasses and set them on the nightstand next to his phone.

When he turned back around, he saw Ryan starting to slip onto his side again and he whispered, “Hey, you’re gonna hurt your arm like that.”

Ryan seemed to register what he meant as he hummed and rolled onto his right side, facing his own nightstand. Shane just huffed; as long as he slept on his side he would be fine.

Shane leaned over and pulled the lamp cord, surrounding them in blue moonlight.

~

The morning sun bleached the hotel room in sunshine yellow light as Shane was brought to shallow consciousness. The first sensation he felt was his freezing toes that he couldn’t keep under the covers and the goose bumps trailing up his exposed shoulders. The second sensation, this warmth seeping into his chest, kicked his heart rate into overdrive.

His torso and thighs were pressed tightly against his bedmate’s back, and for a split second he assumed it was Sara, until higher brain functioning melted in. His fingers tightened as the realization of just who was pressed against him struck him and he forced himself to keep his body still.

Ryan’s breathing was even, signaling to Shane that he hadn’t woken up yet, and Shane let his initial fear slowly drain from his body as he was allowed a moment to process. His subconscious immediately flooded his nerves with the urge to stay like this forever, and he suddenly felt like there was no way he could force himself to move away from Ryan. Then, again, as always, reality pumped the brakes.

He had to move before he was caught. He figured he could get out of this whole mess easily, if he wanted to. He just had to move his arm out from under Ryan’s, which was plastering them to Ryan’s torso. No problem.

Though, he realized a little belatedly that his leg was clasped between Ryan’s thighs as well, and he suddenly felt completely trapped. There was no way he could unhook himself entirely without waking Ryan, especially with how light of a sleeper he was.

His escape strategy got set on pause as his fingers flexed against Ryan’s stomach, grazing his ribs and moving up his torso. He wanted to pull him tighter, maybe hook his other leg over Ryan’s and bring him completely flush against his body. He wanted to skim his fingers across Ryan’s pudgy stomach, maybe dip under his waistband and curve his hand against the jut of his hip-

Ryan’s breath stuttered into a long inhale as he stretched his body backwards, pressing even further into Shane’s torso. Shane barely kept himself from groaning as the air was forced out of his lungs and Ryan’s ass curved along his pelvis.

As Ryan’s stretch petered out and his body relaxed again, his fingers laced between Shane’s and pulled his arm against his chest. All Shane could do was sit still and play the victim as he was pulled closer and his head was forced into Ryan’s neck. He really wasn't sacrificing much.

Now, apparently, was the perfect time for an existential crisis. What the hell was he _thinking_? Letting himself spoon Ryan without him knowing or even allowing it, as if that was going to work out in the long run. It’d just get his mind running in circles again, about how Ryan didn’t want him and never would and even if he did was it worth their friendship, was it worth hurting Sara, was it worth the show?

And yet he wasn’t even trying to extract himself from Ryan’s hold; there was no way for this to end well. He’d move and wake Ryan up, causing the other man to have his own little crisis, and then they’d settle themselves into a horribly uncomfortable companionship that barely talked to each other and if they did it was never about _the incident_ -

“Shane?”

Shane would swear he felt the universe pressing on his ribs. His entire body was set on fire, and yet Ryan whispered his name as if he was checking to see if Shane was even awake.

Maybe, selfishly, he could let Ryan take this fall for them. He and Helen broke up weeks ago; it’d be less hard on him than it would be on Shane. Shane could use the familiarity excuse, because he was just so used to spooning with Sara, apparently.

He wasn't, didn't know the last time they even shared a bed, but Ryan didn't know that. He’d let Ryan take this fall, for the sake of their friendship, because Shane could never be mad at him for this, whereas who knew how Ryan would react.

Instead of having a mild panic attack, as Shane expected would come next, Ryan exhaled and relaxed, fiddling with Shane’s fingers as his body melted against his torso again.

Shane forced himself to breathe evenly into Ryan’s neck, keeping up the façade as long as he was possibly allowed.

Ryan, surprising Shane yet again, snuggled closer into his torso and tightened his legs around Shane’s. He was breathing smoothly, as if settling into Shane’s embrace. It felt like they slotted together, his chest acting as a perfect cavity for Ryan to slide into.

Shane wanted so badly to tighten his arm where Ryan had it held against his chest, squeezing Ryan against him and shoving his face even deeper into Ryan’s shoulder and neck until his breath began to tickle his collarbone. He wanted Ryan to feel his smile against his back and know that it was okay, and that he wanted this, but something kept his body in place. If he had to name it, it'd probably be overwhelming fear. Though, it seemed Ryan was completely calm.

Ryan seemingly gave up on indulging and dropped Shane’s fingers to his stomach again. He started to move, gingerly extracting Shane from his space as he got up from the bed.

This was the moment Shane had to make a decision. He could lay limp and lifeless and allow Ryan to think he got out clean, no strings attached, or he could pull Ryan back to him and show him how much he wanted this.

By the time he got the courage to even choose, Ryan was out of his reach. He kept his eyes closed, barely hearing footsteps moving around the bed toward his nightstand, and Shane slowly remembered that he put Ryan’s stuff on his side last night.

The footsteps paused behind him and Shane could feel static crawling up his spine as Ryan watched him breathe. Clearly Ryan was inclined toward taking all of the covers in the middle of the night, because Shane felt stripped bare and freezing under his gaze.

Ryan broke the serene silence as he yawned and made his way towards the bathroom.

Shane cracked an eye open to watch as Ryan scratched his neck and stretched as he passed the bed again. Ryan left the door open and started running the faucet, presumably brushing his teeth and washing his face.

Shane rubbed his eyes and rolled back to his side to stare at the ceiling in bewilderment. Ryan acted like it wasn’t weird that Shane was spooning him all night, as if that was just a normal, routine thing they did. He’d gotten up so easily, untangled himself effortlessly, as if he’d done it a million times before.

_Maybe he had._

Shane’s heart slowed to a soft thud against his rib cage as the enigma that was Ryan Bergara crystallized for the first time. He felt like he’d been stuck underwater before now, drowning with blurry vision and dulled hearing, only just now coming up for air.

He didn’t waste another minute alone, instead quickly hoisting himself out of bed and moving towards the bathroom. He turned to catch Ryan wiping his face with the hand towel as he finished cleaning up. Shane leaned his shoulder against the door frame and crossed his arms, staring at Ryan until he realized Shane was there.

Ryan slowly looked up from wiping his face, “Oh, you’re up early…”

Shane quirked an eyebrow, as if he was actually confused and curious, “Am I usually up later?”

Ryan gave him a questioning expression and set the towel down on the counter next to his face wash, “I don't know?”

“Weird comment, then.”

Shane could see Ryan’s hackles rise immediately as he started to move out of the bathroom, defensively huffy in the face of Shane's snark. Before he could walk out, Shane placed his hand on his shoulder and soothed him backwards again.

“Hey, calm down, I’m just fucking with you.”

Ryan looked down at his hand, which was moving towards Ryan’s bandaged upper arm to check how it held up over night, “Okay, what for?”

Shane paused the conversation in order to ask, “Can I?” in reference to removing Ryan’s bandages. Ryan nodded with a pinched expression on his face, but Shane ignored that for now.

He moved closer into Ryan’s space so that all Ryan could do was look down at his collarbone or up at his chin. He pulled the fabric loose and noted the wound hadn’t bled too heavily from Ryan’s sleepy antics.

That thought brought him back to the situation at hand and he smirked as he wrapped Ryan’s arm in fresh gauze. Ryan said ‘thanks’ and stepped backwards out of his space, once again becoming defensive. Shane felt shitty for putting him on edge, but hey, he was basking in it.

He played the conversation, “For booking one bed every time we stay somewhere.”

Ryan’s gaze snapped to his before he controlled his expression, “What?”

“I’m fucking with you for only ever getting one bed.”

This time Ryan shoved past him completely before Shane had a chance to even attempt to stop him, “I told you it was an accident.”

Shane smiled, “Were all the other times ‘accidents’ too?”

Ryan instinctively replied, “Shut up, Shane” as he started packing up his stuff, clearly flustered and unwilling to work with him.

Shane was coming off like an asshole, when he was seriously just giddy as fuck. He wasn’t trying to hassle Ryan about the bed, he just liked finally being in on the plan.

Shane moved behind Ryan in an attempt to get his intentions across. He wrapped his arms around Ryan’s shoulders and rested his head on top of the shorter man’s, “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be a dick.”

Ryan reached up and held his wrist, likely torn between pulling it away from his body and holding it firmly in place, “What are you doing.”

“C’mon, we were closer than this ten minutes ago.”

Ryan didn't move until he snapped, quickly turning around and shoving on Shane’s chest, effectively untangling himself from Shane’s embrace, “What the fuck? You were awake? Have you just been waiting to mock me?”

Shane was lost in the face of Ryan's anger, “Wait, what?”

“Jesus, you could have just, I don’t know-“, Ryan huffed and turned back to packing, angrily shoving his clothes back into his duffle, “You’ve been, what, making fun of me this whole time? Waiting to let me in on the big joke? Look at Ryan and his embarrassing fucking-“ _crush_.

Shane stomach dropped; he was doing this all wrong. He tried again, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s middle this time and shoving his face into Ryan’s neck, just like he wanted to in bed. Ryan was breathing so heavy, but Shane noticed he still wasn't pushing him away, after all that. Ryan really did want this, and that lit Shane's heart up.

“That’s not what this is. I’m just stoked. Don’t know how to handle it.”

Ryan was quiet, breathing evening out in Shane’s arms. He parroted, “Stoked” like he didn’t know what it meant.

Shane laughed and squeezed Ryan harder before pulling them both down on the bed, Ryan landing awkwardly in his lap.

He tried to escape immediately, “Jesus-“

Shane let him jump up and turn around to look at him. He was leaning back on his hands, looking up at Ryan like he’d hung the moon. For all Shane was concerned, he had.

Ryan huffed and fixed his shirt, “What… what does this even mean. For, you know, us, everything, the show, Sara-“

“Fuck.”

“Oh my god, don’t tell me you _forgot_ about-“

Shane ran a hand through his messy hair, “I didn’t _forget_ , I just kind of… zeroed in on you. For just a minute. You're like the sun sometimes, a little blinding.”

Ryan let a small smile pull at his lips and sat down next to him. Shane looked over and laced his fingers in with Ryan’s.

Ryan idly rubbed his thumb against Shane’s hand as he spoke, “We can’t… do anything- be anything- right now.”

“I know, I’ve just wanted you for so long, and this morning-“

“This morning was me indulging for once. You know, you do that shit every time. Big fucking cuddly octopus.”

“And you always book one bed.”

“Yeah, guess I’m not so innocent, huh.”

Shane tugged on their hands so Ryan would get the hint and lay down next to him.

“Shane-“

Shane just kept going, turning Ryan on his side and pulling him against his chest again. He took the opportunity to run his hand from Ryan’s collarbone to his belly, and moving back up.

Ryan whispered, “I think you should stop.”

“I can, if you want.”

He could practically hear Ryan wincing in pain, as if that was the hardest decision he would have to make. Shane stopped moving his hand anyway, because it was torturing Ryan, but he kept on spooning him, because he couldn't get himself to pull away.

Ryan spoke up again, “What are you going to do.”

Shane hid his face in Ryan's neck, an attempt to hide from reality that sorely failed, “I don’t know. Sara and I have been drifting apart anyway, maybe it won’t be so bad.”

Ryan sounded shocked, “You’re leaving her?”

“I have to, even if I didn’t figure your side out this morning I was still always thinking about you like this. Not great for a relationship. Her and I just... haven't been doing good.”

Ryan hummed, and began dragging his fingernails up Shane’s arm. Shane was buzzing with electricity, he’d been waiting for Ryan to just put his hand on him for months. He'd never felt this sensitive to someone else before.

“Shane… what about everything else? The show.”

“Up to you, Bergara.”

Ryan huffed, “You know I get anxious about that shit.”

“And you know I don’t care what people say. At this point, I’m ready to go into work with the words “Ryan’s Property” written across my ass in sparkly letters.”

Ryan giggled in his arms and it made Shane want to pull him closer, so he did, because he kind of could.

“Why are your feet so cold?”

Shave dug his toes into the dips behind Ryan’s knees and Ryan squawked in protest, jumping out of his grasp and turning to smack him.

“Poor circulation. And I'm always in close proximity to a cover-hog.”

Ryan’s eyes were sparkling, Shane noticed, now that they were face to face. Ryan tentatively reached out and placed his knuckles against Shane’s chest. Shane reached out and brought Ryan in by his neck, pausing with an inch between them.

Shane was a little breathless, but he managed a small, “You good?”

Ryan shook his head and Shane didn’t move. Ryan was clearly having a moral dilemma, and honestly Shane should be doing the same, but he’d wanted Ryan so long at this point that it was almost impossible to abide his own ethics.

“I’m sorry.”

Ryan closed the distance by pressing his nose into Shane’s cheek, “We should wait.”

Shane flexed his fingers against the nape of Ryan’s neck, nosing at Ryan’s cheek in tandem. Their lips were millimeters apart and it was burning a fire up his spine.

“I know,” Shane pressed his face closer, barely avoiding Ryan’s lips, and groaned. Ryan shook his head again and Shane dipped his face to lean into Ryan’s shoulder. Ryan hissed and pulled up, relieving the pressure from his wound.

“Sorry, sorry-“

Ryan said it was okay and leaned up, “Perfect timing, anyway.” Ryan nodded to Shane’s slightly tented pants and Shane’s face lit up warm and pink immediately.

"You should go... chill."

Shane nodded and went into the bathroom to take a cold shower.

 

He came out of the bathroom to Ryan sitting on the bed against the wall with his legs pulled up and his phone in his lap. Shane stood there looking at him a minute before Ryan caught his eye with a questioning smile on his face and took out his headphones.

“You’re cute, you know that?”

“Shut up, Shane. You know, when we get back, it can't be this obvious. You've got those heart eyes.”

Shane felt something heavy drop in his stomach at the thought of going back to reality, leaving this tiny bubble of light in the hotel room. It wasn't going to be easy to ignore now that the dam was broken. Shane smiled and nodded anyway. He knew; he was just so damn ready to have Ryan, to be with Ryan. He wanted it so bad his fucking chest hurt with it.

Ryan sat forward, despite everything he said about waiting, and took Shane’s face in his hands, pulling them close like before. His fingers raked up through his damp hair before settling on his neck. Clearly, Ryan was aching for it just as bad as he was. He didn't know it was this hard to control himself, but he knew it was okay, as long as Ryan was right there with him.

Ryan ran his thumbs against Shane's jaw and asked, “You good?”

And Shane nodded, pushing forward and clasping his hand down around Ryan’s thigh. Ryan was fervent when he took Shane’s lips in his own, like he’d been holding back just as long as Shane had. Shane immediately surged against him, taking everything Ryan would give and giving it all back harder.

Ryan groaned and Shane broke the kiss to climb up, pushing Ryan down against the Pillows, asking, “Good?”

Ryan nodded twice and leaned up to catch his lips again, wrapping his arms around Shane’s shoulders and tugging. Shane bracketed his legs around Ryan’s thighs and sat heavily on them, causing Ryan to jolt underneath him.

“Shane-“

“Mhmm-“

Ryan pressed on his shoulder, forcing him to pull back and look at Ryan’s pupil-blown eyes, “Gotta stop.”

Shane groaned and plopped his head down on Ryan’s shoulder. Ryan wheezed as Shane's weight settled on him and he ran his down his back.

Shane closed his eyes and kissed Ryan’s collar, feeling right in his skin for the first time in a while.

Ryan spoke as he carded through Shane’s hair, “We going back to that house tonight?”

“If you’re done shakin’ in your boots over nothing.”

“What?! There was a ghost banging on the wall!”

Shane smirked, “Baby that could be us.”

“Oh my _god_.”

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments appreciated, as well as constructive criticism. Hope you enjoyed!


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